spoon
n.— «Police have their hands full on the Gold Coast, not only with violent youths, domestic violence and drug dealers, but with the mentally ill. They have their own patois, referring to deranged people as “spoons’ because giving them a knife or fork would provide them with a deadly weapon.» —“Crims push limits of tolerance” Gold Coast Bulletin (Molendinar, Queensland, Australia) June 1, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it’s the young Mary Anning, who went on to become a famous 19th-century British paleontologist. Dubious perhaps, but the story of her rise from seaside...
If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term, adapted into English from Dutch, means “an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric.” And: What’s your relationship with the books on your...